


Spectaculum

by Anonymous



Category: Historical RPF
Genre: Community: fail_fandomanon, Exhibitionism, M/M, Nonnies Made Me Do It, Pseudoepistolary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 05:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3638574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh what wretched sights I had to endure, o conscript fathers, what flagrant spectacles of wickedness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spectaculum

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the nonny on ffa who said "If someone were to write (a Caesar/Antony fic), it would only be enhanced by making it another Philippics where Cicero is describing, in loving detail to his imaginary audience, exactly how Caesar and Antony got it on in front of him ~~and didn't invite him to join~~ and Cicero is scandalized, absolutely scandalized by this!"
> 
> To the beautiful history nonnies. <3

There has been no occasion more foul, no event more odious than that which overshadows this meeting here today, o conscript fathers. That we shall live, that our beloved Republic shall live to see this day. For in the eyes of the Gods and every virtuous man in Rome the profligate Marcus Antonius, who it would be detestable for me to call a citizen or fellow man, finally tore from his breast the garment that until then had lent his actions the costume of legitimacy, and fell upon his colleague.

And yet in my relief that he was unveiled as the wicked beast that I had recognized in him, I grieve for our Republic, for what it must endure. Oaths Marcus Antonius spoke, but not to true gods, no, he drunkenly proclaimed his devotion to a false divinity. Such was his intoxication - by wine or the presence of that man he so admires above all others - that he did not heed the calls of you, esteemed listeners, or the groans of the citizens that witnessed his audacity, and instead bent his head as a slave would and laid his hands upon the highest office of Rome, no, on the body of the Republic.

But Marcus Antonius has long been known to be a drunken fool. I shall not speak of his misspent youth, or of his reckless wantonness, or of the company he chooses to keep; you all know his temperament. It was the act itself that surprised us, that burned itself into the memory of every citizen who witnessed it, not that it was Marcus Antonius who performed it.

But Gaius Julius Caesar I have known as a man who, through all recent strife between us, was honorable. Yet what did Caesar do when Marcus Antonius, nude, drunk, and anointed with oil prostrated himself and set to perform acts which find a more suitable audience in his friends in the brothels than in the crowd that had gathered that day? Did he punish Antonius for his insolence, his violation of the Republic? Did he push him, or send him away? Did he speak one word - one word against Marcus Antonius? He did not.

He looked upon the Roman people - and from his gilded seat he could see every eye - and submitted himself to the ministrations of Marcus Antonius. All hands in the procession stayed. I have been told that one priest was so filled with horror that his torch fell from his hands and lit a wagon on fire, and all of Rome was so overcome with the sight of the display on the dictator's stand that it burned to the ground.

O conscript fathers, I have faithfully defended this Republic for thirty years, I have seen unspeakable things done by men, but I have never seen a sight such as this. For here Marcus Antonius, who is no stranger to being bought for gratification, like a common prostitute performed acts which, I have been told, are common among those with whom he keeps company, but which I have no knowledge of nor ever desired to.

What are we to make of this new Republic whose most powerful man allows such shameful public displays of lust and wickedness, who lets himself be so venerated?

I do not know which of them corrupted the other. It is true that Marcus Antonius had been under the influence of Caesar for years, and I dare not speculate what he had witnessed in the barbaric places in which he had fought. Was he mad with lust? Had his passion for Caesar so robbed him of his senses that the truly became his willing slave?

All eyes in Rome could see Caesar; all ears in Rome could hear him take his pleasure in this debauchery. Truly it speaks to the power this man has over us that none, not even the honorable Marcus Acilius Glabrio and Lucius Trebellius Fides who were in attendance, dared to speak up against him.

And so has not only Marcus Antonius violated the virtue of our republic, but he has done so in concert with his master.


End file.
